What is the most critically acclaimed film that was a box-office disaster on release?

The Fall of the Roman Empire, directed by Anthony Mann in 1964, is frequently cited as being the most intelligently written, the most strongly cast, and most capably acted of all the movies in the sword-and-sandal genre that was so fashionable in Hollywood in the 1960s. Yet it lost a then-record $14.25m at the box office, at a time when studios were not able to recoup some of those losses by video or DVD sales.

Since 1964, and allowing for inflation, only a dozen films have lost more money, and given that they include such turkeys as Heaven's Gate and The Adventures of Pluto Nash, it is safe to say that none of them are in the same league as Mann's masterpiece so far as critical opinion is concerned.pagano

I wouldn't say it's the most critically acclaimed, but Blade Runner bombed at the box office, not helped by the fact that it was competing with ET – The Extraterrestrial. Mind you, if all the people who said they saw it at the cinema when it was first released really had seen it then, it would have been a huge success.

That said, I did see it when it was first released and I can still recall the incredible impression it made on me: "Time to die" (sniffle).LilywhiteGirl

It depends how you define a box-office disaster, but The Shawshank Redemption, a $25m movie, "only" took $16m at the cinemas during its original run, but has been the highest-rated film on IMDB for years.smogo

The General is now considered to be Buster Keaton's masterpiece and one of the greatest films of all time. However, on its release on 1926 it was panned by the critics and lost a fortune. It was Keaton's most expensive film and its failure at the box office led to him losing his creative freedom and having to accept much closer supervision by the studio.Richard Ross, London N4

Would covering yourself in Deep Heat or Ralgex in the Arctic provide enough protection to lessen the need for warm clothes?

The active ingredients in Deep Heat are listed as menthol and methyl salicylate. Menthol is a counterirritant, which relieves underlying pain near the site of application by causing irritation at the surface. Methyl salicylate is a rubefacient, which causes a sensation of heat by dilating blood vessels, thereby increasing blood flow in the affected area; it also metabolises within the body to produce salicylic acid, which is an analgesic.

The heating effect produced is therefore entirely fuelled by the body itself, not by any extra energy coming from the applied substance. Using it to keep warm could dangerously accelerate heat loss – one of the body's natural defences against the cold is to restrict blood flow nearer the skin, not increase it. You could use it to feel warmer, but you would probably burn your energy reserves faster and be at increased risk of being drained of energy reserves and underprotected from the cold. Pretty inadvisable, overall.Peter Wright, Kingston-upon-Thames

Even if it does, you would still need nice, thick thermal underwear. I remember from my rugby days, when on cold, wet match-days we used Fiery Jack for the same purpose, that you didn't want it anywhere near your tender bits (liniment is even worse).Neil Wellman, Bristol

If Cinderella's slipper was such a perfect fit, how did it slip off as soon as she broke into a trot?

My French teacher at school explained to us that Charles Perrault wrote that Cinderella wore ermine (vair) slippers to the ball, not glass (verre) ones. Just a homophonic mistake in translation, really.Andrea Weston, Hazlemere, Bucks

A more pertinent question is, surely, why did the glass slipper remain in existence when everything else that the Fairy Godmother created for Cinderella vanished after midnight?martman1

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